Although this military officer spoke bluntly, everyone present understood what his words meant.

The indifferent expressions of the officials on the elevated platform shifted slightly. They hadn’t expected these Capital Guard soldiers to actually step forward to intervene.

How baffling.

“Lin Kun!” Principal Official Zhu called out this military officer’s name. Although he was also just a captain, since they were both in the capital, Lin Kun was also a son of a prominent family, and they all knew each other. “Your affair—the Capital Guard will punish you.”

Lin Kun wasn’t afraid of him. He even said with a grin, “What affair do we have? Wasn’t it just shoving each other a few times over a quarrel? This is very common. Last month, a few people from the Southern and Northern Armies also shoved each other a bit. It even reached Vice Minister, and Vice Minister said it was nothing.”

He had brought up the Vice Minister. These military officers in the Capital Guard camp—they were all slippery characters mixing in the capital. Principal Official Zhu looked at him. “A quarrel? Shoved a few times? That’s not what was said earlier, was it?”

Lin Kun widened his eyes, playing dumb. “It was a quarrel—arguing over whether the food was good or not.” He turned to look at the soldiers. “Isn’t that right?”

Several people stepped forward from among the soldiers—disheveled clothing, bruised and swollen faces. They were precisely those five kitchen soldiers from earlier. When the two sides competed, as the instigators, they naturally had to participate.

Now being questioned, all five rushed to speak. “Yes.” “That’s right.” “Actually, our cooking really wasn’t good.” “They said so, but we didn’t want to listen, so we cursed at them.”

This was different from what they’d said before.

Principal Official Zhu looked at these people even more intently and said with a cold laugh, “You were beaten once and got scared?”

Lin Kun said, “My lord, you’re deflating your own prestige. We’re all soldiers of Da Xia. How could we be scared by a beating? Whom have we ever feared? When Prince Zhongshan’s troops attacked, didn’t we also engage them in battle?” Without waiting for Principal Official Zhu to speak again, he continued, “We’ve long admired the border army’s reputation. Since we’ve met them, we naturally had to compete. We’re all brothers—what’s the big deal about sparring a bit?”

He then bowed in salute.

“Alarming the lords of the court is our fault.”

“So if there’s to be punishment, punish us all together—that would be fair and just.”

The surrounding Capital Guard soldiers also requested in unison to be “punished together.”

Amid the clamor, Xie Yanlai turned to look Lin Kun over and said, “Didn’t expect it—you all really do have guts.”

“Xie Yanlai,” Lin Kun said, “just for those words, we could fight you again.”

Xie Yanlai scoffed. “Come on then.”

This place suddenly quieted, then suddenly became clamorous. The people watching from afar didn’t know what had happened, but Zhang Gu and the soldiers standing nearby could see and hear roughly what was going on.

“Military Marquis Lin is actually so easy to talk to,” a soldier said in a low voice, then breathed a sigh of relief. “Last time I went to his place to deliver a post station message, I saw him lose his temper and smash a table, and after smashing it, he even chased after people to beat them—scared me to death.”

Zhang Gu smiled. “He’s not easy to talk to at all. It’s just that A’Jiu is a person who’s especially likeable.”

Another soldier nodded. “Speaking of being likeable, this A’Jiu really doesn’t count as one. His words can make people die of anger. But actually, he doesn’t bully people. He’s very fair—you hit me, I hit you; I hit you, you can also hit me. Whether you can beat someone or not, that depends on each person’s own ability.”

Zhang Gu shook his head. “Actually, this time he wasn’t doing it for himself. If it were just for himself, he wouldn’t tangle with these people at all.”

A’Jiu was actually quite lazy.

“That’s true,” the earlier soldier nodded. “They all said it started over food and drink. Even if he were taken away by Ministry of War officials, could they really convict him over food and drink? At most, he’d get scolded a couple of times and that would be it.”

“Then why did he fight this battle?” another soldier still didn’t quite understand. “To show off his might?” He was also somewhat nervous. “And now with him making such a fuss, he really can be convicted of inciting military brawls.”

Zhang Gu looked at the soldiers gathered ahead—all dusty and disheveled. They were also no longer clearly divided like before, with you being you and I being I. Now they stood mixed together, even talking with each other.

“He did this for the border army,” Zhang Gu said. “He doesn’t care about himself, but he doesn’t want the border army to be resented by the Capital Guard, and even more, he doesn’t want the border army’s reputation to be damaged.”

So how to resolve it? Beat them hard—let everyone vent their anger through fighting, fight until they’re convinced. Begin with fighting, end with fighting—only then would this matter truly be finished.

……

……

“My lord cannot take them all away,” an official said to Principal Official Zhu in a low voice. “If we drag the Capital Guard camp into this too, the matter will blow up too big.”

Principal Official Zhu was about to say something when the watching crowd outside, not knowing what had happened, became clamorous.

“Are they fighting or not?”

“Bets have already been placed—fight already!”

Principal Official Zhu’s face darkened. What kind of affair was this!

“The common people are treating it as entertainment,” another official said in a low voice. “If we take away so many soldiers, rumors will fly everywhere.”

Principal Official Zhu looked at Xie Yanlai below the elevated platform. That brat was already talking with Lin Kun, arms around each other’s shoulders. It seemed this matter had already been brushed aside, completely disregarding the officials on the elevated platform.

“But we cannot just let this matter end like this!” he said coldly. “As the border army’s military envoy, no matter what, he cannot escape blame. He must be taken away!”

That was also true. The officials stopped talking.

But someone else spoke up.

“Lord Zhu, since this was just military sparring, let this matter end here.”

Principal Official Zhu’s face darkened. Who? Who dared to order him around like this!

He first looked at the red-robed eunuch standing to the side. That old eunuch had a kind and benevolent face. His eyes indicated he hadn’t spoken, and he kindly pointed below the elevated platform.

Seventh Master Xie had already walked up.

“Lord Zhu, although it caused a misunderstanding, military sparring still doesn’t count as violating military law,” he continued. “So let’s forget about charging and punishing them.”

Principal Official Zhu looked at Seventh Master Xie and said, “Is Seventh Master now interfering in court affairs? This matter is the Grand Tutor’s—”

Seventh Master Xie wasn’t as mild-tempered as Xie Yanfang. He directly interrupted, “Stop pulling that nonsense. Both sides said it was a competition—it doesn’t even count as a brawl. What interfering in court affairs? At most, it’s unruly behavior. Rest assured, my lord, we’re not going to indulge him either. The child is unruly, so we’ll take him back home and teach him a good lesson. You tell the Grand Tutor just that. If the Grand Tutor doesn’t agree, have him go talk to Yanfang. He can send the Imperial Guard to the door to arrest him.”

Although the Grand Tutor had confiscated many families’ properties, the Xie family’s gate still couldn’t be easily touched.

The Grand Tutor could argue with Xie Yanfang, but Principal Official Zhu didn’t dare truly argue with Seventh Master Xie. No matter what, Seventh Master Xie was the Emperor’s elder.

“I will convey this to the Grand Tutor,” he said coldly.

Seventh Master Xie turned around to look below the elevated platform and shouted angrily, “Xie Yanlai!”

Xie Yanlai, who was laughing and talking merrily with Lin Kun, looked up.

Lin Kun also looked at this man and said in a low voice, “This is your uncle. My uncle hosted a banquet for him last time.”

Xie Yanlai made an acknowledging sound. This single sound answered both of them.

“You are unbearably unruly and act recklessly in the military. Although the military doesn’t hold it against you, the family cannot ignore it,” Seventh Master Xie shouted, then summoned people. “Bind him and take him home. He’ll kneel in the ancestral hall.”

Xie Yanlai laughed. “Seventh Uncle, isn’t the ancestral hall in Dongyang?”

Seventh Master Xie said coldly, “When there’s an ancestral hall in your heart, you can kneel anywhere. Of course, you could also go back to Dongyang to kneel in the ancestral hall. That’s actually an excellent suggestion from you.”

Go back to Dongyang, and from then on, he could forget about coming out again—like an eagle with broken wings. Xie Yanlai stopped talking and looked at Seventh Master Xie.

The Xie family servants had already walked up to Xie Yanlai and said respectfully, “Ninth Young Master, please.”

Xie Xiao hid behind the servants, covering his face and saying viciously, “If he won’t go, bind him! He’s thrown away all of our Xie family’s good reputation! If we don’t discipline him, what kind of behavior is this!”

The officials on the elevated platform saw Seventh Master Xie binding someone and invoking family rules, and only sneered coldly. The good reputation had all been taken by their family, without any loss whatsoever.

Lin Kun also couldn’t say anything more. This was their family affair—he had no reason to say he’d go along.

But at least there would be no conviction. Going home was going home.

He looked at Xie Yanlai’s wooden face and said in a low voice, “I understand—family is always annoying.”

But there was no helping it—that was family. There was no escaping it. He reached out and patted Xie Yanlai’s shoulder.

“When you go back, admit your fault properly. Play the grandson for a few days, then come out and find your brother to hang out.”

Borrowing the force of his pat, Xie Yanlai walked forward a few steps and was surrounded by several servants.

Officer Niu from the border army blurted out “No!” He pushed aside the servants and grabbed Xie Yanlai. “You can’t go home. You need to have an imperial audience. You’re the military envoy.”

Seventh Master Xie glanced at this military officer. So many officials weren’t stopping it, yet this man dared to say no.

“Don’t worry,” Seventh Master Xie said with a half-smile, joking with this crude fellow. “It won’t delay official duties. Even if it does, his older brother is in the court—he can speak a word for him.”

Officer Niu didn’t know why he was blocking this either. As the military envoy, an imperial audience was also the Xie family’s glory. Would the Xie family really delay it?

But somehow—probably from looking at these Xie family people, old and young—it felt like if they opened their mouths, they would swallow Xie Yanlai whole and never spit him out again.

“Why not wait until after the imperial audience is finished before going home?” he said again.

Seventh Master Xie’s face darkened. Before he could speak, Xie Yanlai raised his hand and placed it on Officer Niu’s shoulder.

“Old Niu, why are you talking so much?” he said. “Can’t bear to part with me? On the road, didn’t you find me displeasing? Before we left, I heard you complaining to Zhong Changrong that you didn’t want to travel with me. Now that we’ve entered the capital, you’re scared? You want to rely on me?”

Officer Niu glared and said, “What nonsense! I’m worried about the border army’s mission. You’re completely unreliable. Don’t you dare delay General Zhong’s important matters.”

Xie Yanlai smiled. “Don’t worry. I am me, the border army is the border army. They won’t be delayed because of me.” Having said this, he pushed him.

What do you mean “I am me, the border army is the border army”? Officer Niu wanted to ask more, but Xie Yanlai’s push was forceful, making him stagger back several steps. Several military officers from the border army also surrounded him, signaling him not to say more.

“His brother is Xie Yanfang, no lower than the Grand Tutor in the court. Stop worrying needlessly.”

“Xie Yanlai can speak casually—his family is large and powerful. Whatever he says is fine. What are you? Say less. This is the capital.”

Seeing that military officer quiet down and stop speaking, Seventh Master Xie smiled, flicked his sleeve. No matter what captain you’ve become, no matter how many troops you lead, and no matter what military envoy you are—Xie family people are Xie family business. Who else could interfere?

“Alright, let’s go—” he began.

But as soon as he opened his mouth, someone else interrupted. “Seventh Master, please wait a moment.”

Who was this blind fool now? How could taking away one Xie Yanlai, such a small matter, be dragging on endlessly?

Seventh Master Xie’s expression was irritated as he turned toward the voice. He saw the red-robed palace attendant smiling and bowing to him in salute.

“Ah, Eunuch Qi,” Seventh Master Xie put away his irritation and said with a gentle smile, “What are your instructions?”

Eunuch Qi said, “Young Master Yanlai cannot go back yet. The Empress wishes to see him.”